Eating back exercise

rsrfitpal

Hi all....I'm back with questions! I am trying to switch over to MFP from WW, and am having a few hang ups. One of which is the exercise tracking. With WW, we were always taught in our group to track our exercise, but not to eat back the points, and use them as a "buffer" per se, unless we were hard core gym rats.

With MFP I first set it up to lose 1 lb a week without any intended exercise , and my activity level as light (one step up from sedentary) I am a factory worker, on my feet doing somewhat physical stuff 8 hrs a day 5 days a week. I do exercise, I walk my dog, and I go to the gym and do some cardio and a strength training circuit at least 2 days a week, sometimes 3. I will track it, to keep record of my progress physically, but should I be eating back those calories or using my exercise as an extra deficit to maybe go to 2 lb a week weight loss? Or do I need to eat back the calories to have enough energy for the exercise? It just confuses me. Any insight from experienced MFP users is appreciates!! (I don't keep a regular schedule for workouts, I fit them in when I can, so I didn't set up with pre determined amounts, I simply add to tracker as I do it)

I weigh 240 lbs right now, and am 5'7" tall....so I have over 70 lbs to lose as most charts say I should be around 160 high endAm I doing this correctly, or do I need to re set up my initital stuff?

HollisGrant

This is a permanent discussion on here with lots of conflicting opinions.

The MFP program is set up for you to eat back the calories. It is a great program. However, be aware that the database is made up by the members (not health professionals). Friends who own heart rate monitors have told me that some of the calorie burns for exercise in the database are over-inflated. Some of the calories for the food in the database might also be right -- or might be too high or too low. If you buy a food scale and heart rate monitor you might get more accurate numbers.

I figure my diary is not 100 percent accurate. I eat the calories back if I'm hungry, or eat some of them back and not all, to cover that inaccuracy. I don't force myself to eat if I'm not hungry (just as I wouldn't force myself to do without food if I'm hungry). Remember that a pound = 3,500 calories or a 500 calorie per day deficit over 7 days. If you are really low one day you can also look at it as one day in a week and make up for it another day.

Ithina1

It's set up to eat them back. If you find yourself exercising to create a loss more than 2lbs a week you should definitely eat some back so you don't create too big of a deficit. I've seen a lot of people who eat 1/2 of them back. A lot of the exercise calories are more calories than they probably are. I personally eat back about 1/3 of them. I ate back all of them for a couple weeks and didn't lose any weight (I did lose 1/2 an inch around my waist, so maybe I should have been more patient..)

It's a system you can tweak to fit your needs. Just make sure you're eating enough to have energy for the day.

rsrfitpal

So If I'm reading everything right on these forums, I think I am doing it right. I will continue on as I am. I will keep my settings the same on MFP to lose 1 lb a week with no exercise. If I do exercise, it will be added deficit, that I can eat back if wanted, or not if i'm not hungry.

Mokey41

I think you're doing it exactly right. As with WW unless you are doing some high calorie burn physical activity there really isn't a need to eat back exercise especially when you have a lot of weight to lose.